काव्ये विश्वासटिप्पन्यः

[[Mohan K.V 2012-12-19, 21:42:03 Source]]

सदास्वाद

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पूर्वसुकृतासंगेन निःसंगया भक्त्या कार्यधुरं वहन्ति

(pūrva-sukṛtā-saṃgena niḥsaṃgayā bhaktyā kāryadhuraṃ vahanti)

Meaning

Literally, “(Driven) by the bonds of good deeds done to them in the past, they bear the yoke of duty with selfless devotion”. The bonds of gratefulness are strong, while those of selfishness are absent. The conciseness of Sanskrit shines through!

Context

Today’s phrase is taken from the play Mudrārākṣasa written byViśākhadatta. The play is set around time of Alexander’s invasion, and is full of plot-twists, spy games and an intense interplay of a bunch of very smart characters. As is usual with Sanskrit authors, little is known ofViśākhadatta except that he lived a little after the golden age of the Guptas, and that he was a ‘man of the world’, probably an administrator, before writing this play.
The central plot revolves around Cāṇakya, the brilliant minister (formerly teacher at Takṣaśila), who has just established 20-year-old Candragupta Maurya as the emperor of an India united for the first time in recorded history, and Rākṣasa, the equally brilliant minister of the now-completely-vanquished Nanda dynasty.Rākṣasa is on the run after his master’s fall, but loyalty being his only motivation to live, he has sworn to depose and kill Candragupta. In the character ofCāṇakya however,the playwright makes a brilliant choice that elevates every character and the entire play to a wholly new realm:Cāṇakya doesn’t want to eliminateRākṣasa – he wants to win him over. He knowsRākṣasa is the most intelligent, loyal and capable minister in the land, and would be an invaluable asset in the court ofCandragupta. What’s more, Cāṇakya deeply respectsRākṣasa’s abilities, and genuinely admires him as a person. This creates a natural, beautiful tension in the plot, andViśākhadatta’s genius has been in fulfilling this tension to the satisfaction of readers of fifteen hundred years and counting.
Today’s phrase appears in the 14th verse of the first act, and succinctly capturesCāṇakya’s admiration of the enemy as he thinks to himself:
ऐश्वर्यादनपेतमीश्वरमयं लोकोऽर्थतः सेवते
तं गच्छन्त्यनु ये विपत्तिषु पुनस्ते तत्प्रतिष्ठाशया |
भर्तुर्ये प्रलयेऽपि पूर्वसुकृतासंगेन निःसंगया
भक्त्या कार्यधुरं वहन्ति बहवस्ते दुर्लभास्त्वादृशाः ||
aiśvaryād anapetam īśvaram ayaṃ loko’-rthataḥ sevate
taṃ gacchantyanu ye vipattiṣu punas te tat pratiṣṭh-āśayā |
bhartur ye pralaye’pi pūrva-sukṛtā-saṃgena niḥsaṃgayā
bhaktyā kārya-dhuraṃ vahanti bahavas te durlabhās tvādṛśāḥ ||
(Śārdūlavikrīḍita metre, 19 syllables per line)
With many motives, this world serves a man who hasn’t yet lost his mastery;
They who remain after it’s gone stay with a hope that it’ll come back;
But even after their master’s utter ruin,(driven) by the bonds of good deeds done to them in the past,
they who bear the yoke of duty with selfless devotion – ah, my dearRākṣasa, people like you are rare indeed!
This relentless, faithful, devoted pursuit is really the soul of any ideal, andViśākhadatta captures it with a succinctness possible only in Sanskrit. For those of you who are interested, Dr. Chandraprakash Dwivedi’s very well made TV series based on the play is available with English subtitles for free on Youtube:http://www.youtube.com/user/chanakya

Thought for today

To take a hint from the multiple parallel threads in the play, to demonstrate the cold realism that pervades it and because we couldn’t bear to drop either one, we have two thoughts for today :-)
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भेतव्यं नृपतेः ततः सचिवतो राज्ञस्ततो वल्लभात्
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अन्यद्भ्यश्च वसन्ति येऽस्य भवने लब्धप्रसादा विटाः |
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दैन्यादुन्मुखदर्शनापलपनैः पिण्डार्थमायस्यतः
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सेवाम् लाघवकारिणीम् कृतधियः स्थाने श्ववृत्तिं विदुः ||
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bhetavyaṃ nṛpateḥ tataḥ sacivato rājñas tato vallabhāt
anyadbhyaś ca vasanti ye’sya bhavane labdha-prasādā viṭāḥ |
dainyād unmukha-darśanā-palapanaiḥ piṇḍārtham āyasyataḥ
sevām lāghava-kāriṇīm kṛta-dhiyaḥ sthāne śvavṛttiṃ viduḥ ||
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On pleasing those in power:
“One first has to bow down to the King’s every whim. Next come his ministers, his friends, and all the rascals who have somehow won his favor and squat in his palace. And then comes the struggle of keeping a meek face while juggling secrets, all for the sake of the stomach: ah, this demeaning ‘service’ is surely a dog’s life!”
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स्तुवन्ति श्रान्तास्याः क्षितिपतिमभूतैरपि गुणैः
प्रवाचः कार्पण्याद्यदवितथवाचोऽपि पुरुषाः |
प्रभावस्तृष्णायाः स खलु सकलः स्यादितरथा
निरीहाणामीशस्तृणमिव तिरस्कारविषयः ||
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stuvanti śrāntāsyāḥ kṣitipatim abhūtair api guṇaiḥ
pravācaḥ kārpaṇyād yad avitatha-vāco’pi puruṣāḥ |
prabhāvas tṛṣṇāyāḥ sa khalu sakalaḥ syād itarathā
nirīhāṇām īśas tṛṇam iva tiraskāra-viṣayaḥ ||
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An ancient pre-echo of Gibbon’s observation that “our desires and our possessions are the strongest fetters of despotism”:
“With fatigued tongues they praise the king with empty laurels; even people who usually speak the truth, out of need, tell every sweet lie they can imagine; surely, this perversity is born because the thirst for more. In contrast, to those free of desire, any Lord is as trivial as a blade of grass”.